We've had to cut out a few segments due to a copyright claim so apologies for that. Hope you enjoyed the list though and let us know any more things we missed!
You speak ENTIRELY too quickly for effective comprehension. It resembles an urgent news report. Very annoying. I used the 0.75 speed to keep my sanity.
My favorite part about the movie is the end. We see no more of Truman after he leaves and it’s super cool because it reflects his new life. We don’t get to see what happens to him because there are no cameras on him anymore.
Truman's car does not have head rests, in order to keep him in a clear view of the backseat camera. A subtle example of them willing to compromise his safety for a little extra production value.
It also has a Service Engine Soon and (I think) an ABS warning light on the dash. He seems pretty meticulous, that should have bothered him. Hell, it even bothers me, even on my almost 20 year old cars....
Another thing about the Mt Rushmore picture. His 'mom' says "you slept the whole way". I always took that to mean that it was incredibly possible they drugged/knocked out Truman in order to give him the illusion of traveling. Another way to show just how dark the reality of the situation is, without getting too explicit.
It's obvious they are telling him that as he naturally would have no memory as an adult, of that trip because its a fake picture and the event never took place.
A few other things I only recently noticed: 1) During the on-air interview, Christof receives a call from The Hague, but the call gets dropped. The implication seems to be that Christof may be facing prosecution by the International Court of Justice for crimes against humanity, and the call staff barely realizes this in time to prevent the call from airing live. 2) Stripes figure prominently in most of Truman's outfits, reinforcing the idea that he is a prisoner. 3) When the "cease transmission" order is given at the end of the film, Christof slumps forward until his head hits the static-filled screen. Whether this implies literal death from the strain of failure or not, Christof's life is at least figuratively over, as the project that he poured his whole life into has come to an end.
The Hague call was received by the show hosting Christof on air, and I actually think their getting cut off was just an indication of the fact that there is no communication when it comes to actual human rights in the world now.
I remember walking into the theater at the age of 17 in 1998 thinking that I was going to see a comedy due to Jim Carrey's previous work. What I saw that day was a breath taking story that alters our perception of reality. This was unlike anything I'd seen before or even after and showed the potential of what Jim can do outside of comedy slapstick.
A good companion film that came out roughly the same time was Dark City. Both movies feature a man who is watched, experimented with, who tries to escape … both these films (precursors to the Matrix - another “this reality is a construction” movie) were so fabulous.
@@nvstewart I believe they meant that long hours and medical seminars and the like would make an excuse for her absence while she went on vacations or to visit friends or reunions, etc.
I assumed she took her breaks (visiting relatives or something) alone anyway because of Truman's debilitating travel phobia. She doesn't need a special contract for that, only for having sex with Truman.
I'd assume her time at work was time off too. When she comes home she still looks absolutely perfect, but nobody looks like that at the end of a shift.
I always thought the reason why they never had music other than classical was to further isolate Truman from the outside world and help keep him ignorant. Lyrics could cause him to question the reality that they've constructed for him.
That completely violates the world Truman is in. They ground him in a real world, the lights in the night sky are supposed to be real star locations. Truman lives in a city that exist in the US. They go as far as to tell him real nations. This never made sense to me at all. If they were going to have him live in a fiction world, they should of 100% made the entire universe up.
@@Seriona1 It's all about the audience, if it was made up, you have to let them follow without asking there to be a guide to it...they would have the book of truman but to have otherworldly details would limit the reach
@@AuroDHikoshi It just goes against the concept of control. He leaves the dome, he has some idea of what the real world is. By putting in a fiction world, it might make him think about not leaving the world.
I've always liked this wacky attention to detail: At the start of the movie, a light falls from the sky and Truman happens to be nearby, when he picks it up, on it is a label that says "Sirius (α Canis Major)." Sirius (designated α Canis Major) is the brightest star in the night sky, and the fact that the light was labeled with that name implies that there are more lights like the one that fell near Truman that replicate the real life constellations inside the dome.
I also watched a video, where it is implied that the show is in financial trouble (the light fell off due to lack of maintenance etc), Which is why they were pushing so hard for a pregnancy (to help boost the ratings).
In the magazine kiosk all the magazines are related to low risk activities that can be done around the house, such as gardening, dogs and parenting magazines. Nothing that might tempt Truman in doing something risky or thinking of locales away from the set.
I believe there was a moment where Meryl distracts Truman by saying that they wanted to try for a baby. That means Meryl was willing to be impregnated for the show OR her and her real-life partner were scheduling a child around the show. It also means that the baby, much like Truman, would be on camera from birth.
I guess as she was Truman's fuil time wife, she would have consummate, otherwise he would realise that something was wrong! That makes her literally a prostitute and the "unprofessional" line in the movie hits harder!
Maybe she was bluffing about getting pregnant. She definitely considered her relationship as a job and herself as a professional. So maybe she had ways to avoid getting pregnant. But what I really think is, she drugged him before, you know...and he wakes up next day thinking they were intimate.
Maybe im thinking of a deleted scene? But i do seem to recall Christof talking about trying to get the right for the first on air copulation, or something along those lines. Likely Meryl is willing to commit her entire being to the show
There's a deleted scene where the cast (including Meryl's replacement, "Vivian," who flirted with Truman at work) meet, and it's clear that having a baby is part of the show plot, as there are plans to start a two-channel format when the baby is born. (Vivian also jokes, "Let’s hope we don't have twins," which a producer finds hilarious while Marlon is clearly irked by the callousness with which the issue is treated.)
I always wonder: How many actors in the show, if they met Truman on the outside, would show remorse for their actions, indifference or resentment for losing their jobs?
@@markmitera4521 I think perhaps some of them were. I've heard of extra materials for the film which had some of the actors saying they couldn't stand Truman - as though his was a character that could be rewritten.
@@salmonellq2981 he was put up to this as a child and is now clearly racked with guilt. You should grow up and get your wmotions in check or the nuance of films like this will be forever lost on you.
A deleted scene noted that literally EVERYTHING that is seen on The Truman Show is available for purchase via their catalog. Clothing, jewelry, food, cars, appliances, furniture, and even the houses. Meryl noted in an interview that her necklace was a top selling item (presumably without the micro-camera, naturally).
I swear the scene isn't deleted when Christoph is having an interview he says everything you see on set is for sale. From clothes down to the very houses they live in
I just noticed something new for the first time. At 7m 55s in, Truman is on the beach and lightning strikes. You can see the flash in the moon, now that would be impossible in the real world. But if the moon is on the side of the dome, it would light up with lightning.
Big one yall missed: the bus driver. The bus driver has to fake the bus breaking down when Truman tries to go to Chicago to take a flight from there to Fiji. But the show can't let him leave so the driver has to sabotage the bus so Truman can't leave. However, the bus driver is remorseful, telling Truman he's sorry. Then later, when the ferry is needed for the show to chase after Truman, the bus driver redeems himself by sabotaging the ferry so Truman can escape.
I had noticed this the very first time I watched the movie. I thought the driver saw that Truman was trying to escape his slavery and held much guilt in holding him back. The actor did a great job in showing his guilt with his apology.
I’ve read different takes on that guy, either he was purposefully sabotaging the rides or, because he was an actor and never actually meant to sail, he didn’t know how to
i don’t think he sabotaged the bus or ferry on purpose, he probably doesn’t actually know how to operate it and the bus was gonna break down regardless
I think Marlon's sickness when they tried camping out was also another way of stifling young Truman's spirit of adventure. He goes sailing and "kills his father", he goes camping playing explorers and almost kills his best friend. Marlon's line about delivering all over the country while working was more about his time off. The lights, however, must have had a UV component (negating the need for vitamin D) or all of the plants, including the fake forest, would have died.
Not really. UV ranges from 10-400 nm. Chlorophyll absorption has two peaks, one around 425-475 nm (visible blue light) and another around 640-670nm (visible red light). UV isn't necessary for photosynthesis, nor is green light which chlorophyll reflects. This is why efficient plant-growth lights will generally have a specific mix of LEDs; mostly blue, some red, and sometimes just a smattering of white for overall balance and visibility. The reason plants don't do well without UV, as demonstrated in various RL enclosed environment experiments, is because it inhibits pollinators like Bees which rely on UV to see patterns on flowers to direct them to the nectar/pollen like landing strips. Without UV light, these patterns would be invisible to them, they'd starve out, and the plants would die off as a result. But that can easily™ be addressed via artificial pollination.
I always figured that the two times Marlon is mentioned as being away (the sickness mentioned, and when Truman mentions he was “hauling chickens for Kaiser”) were to give the actor “time off”.
The director had an idea for the cinema release, but the technology wasn't quite there yet. At a point in the film, the screen would change to a live view of the cinema audience watching the movie. Think about where there's the cuts between all the different groups of people watching Truman and then YOU are in the movie, watching the movie, in the movie. But digital projectors to make that possible wouldn't make their way into theatres until over a decade later.
@@seppyq3672 Or a sequel about Truman's ongoing struggle to escape Christof's legal right to film and broadcast every detail of his life, in or out of the dome. So Truman is continually being filmed, whether he knows it or not. And what's being filmed is what we're watching. And the movie could even intercut live footage of actual people watching in theaters, TVs, or even on their computers and iPads.
@@seppyq3672 Damn, I never thought of that. Classic theatres screening classic films could implement the idea RIGHT NOW and blow away an audience that've seen it 20 times. If you wanted to get real dystopian, when watching on a streaming service it could display cameras on the same wifi network in your home.
I'd personally love to see a take on one of the early ideas for the movie. Basically it was all still a fake world, but Truman was a superhero fighting crime. Though I imagine that might be seen as a little cliche seeing as I know I've seen a few stories where a superhero realizes they exist as a fictional character.
You missed a couple. The motto on the archway - “UNUS PRO OMNIBUS, OMNES PRO UNO” - one for all, all for one in Latin was fitting as Truman’s existence was for the entertainment of all, and everyone on the set was there for Truman. Also, all the street names and character names were after famous actors. Lancaster Square, Barrymore Road. His wife was Meryl, best friend Marlon, secret love Lauren Garland (Lauren Bacall, Judy Garland).
You're better off doing it to someone else... maybe as a desperate attempt to carry on after all the money that was pumped in but it clashes because it's not as watched as it once was.
I think if they did it immediately it would work. He's too old to make it make sense now. He could adjust to life after the hype of how famous he used to be. Maybe desperate to go back?
It could be interesting to see Truman having difficulties adapting to his life in the real world. Being constantly recognized as a celebrity, hounded for autographs, paparazzi everywhere. He could be paranoid that he was still being watched 24/7 and thinking cameras are everywhere. He could go back to Christoff begging to have his life back only to be turned away. It would be an interesting look at how someone has to adapt to survive.
@@Jay-ate-a-bug He does. Jim Carrey plays himself and the (Truman) show goes on. We are all the other actors on a broader scale, unbeknownst, playing our little "roles".
A true masterpiece for sure. And too far out for the herd to ever grasp. I’m referring to the one’s still standing in line for the clot shot after all the info is out characterizing it as a game of Russian Roulette at best.
Truman had a handler throughout the film, ans can be seen in many places. When Truman first almost hits the old lady, his handler can be seen in the background when he parks his car. Can also be seen when Truman sees his dad as a homeless guy. His handler is calling out actions in his sleeve of his coat when Truman runs after him. His handler can also be seen at the news stand, and gets caught when Truman sees him waiting after he sits down from being thrown out of the building.
The fact that people like the travel agent or the bus driver being actors makes sense but it's the people at the hospital not really being medics that surprised me. If it is supposed to be a functional town, what would they do if Truman injured himself? And obviously he and others would need regular doctor and dentist appointments. The surgery scene is funny though!
They could have be real doctors, they only faked the surgery because the wife said they had a big operation that day and Truman came in unexpectedly so they threw it together at the last minute.
One actual doctor would be enough to take care of the medical needs of the staff and Truman but them paying a doctor to be a full time extra at a hospital set would be wasteful.
@@redrick8900 I mean... a lot of the people involved in the TV show have questionable ethics so given that we're talking about people who would take a child and make his entire world a big fish tank filled with fake fish as his friends and family... I could believe a few medical staff would pretend to do a surgery asap. They're not ACTUALLY operating.
I teach Sociology at A-Level and use The Truman Show every year to introduce my students to research methods (it is simultaneously an observation, a field and a lab experiment, and with elements of interviews). There's some incredible new piece of detail that detail gets spotted every year. For example: - Truman never swears, nor does anyone swear around him. The only bit of questionable language in the whole film is when one of the extras says "just find the son of a bitch" after Truman escapes. It could be because of the rating of the movie, or more likely Truman doesn't actually know what swearing is since the show about his life is broadcasting 24/7, and the Producer couldn't risk colourful language before any watershed. - In the flashback scene to the prom, Truman is the only male wearing a white tux. Presumably to make him that much easier to recognise to the viewer. - I picked up on Marlon catching pneumonia and always interpreted it as the character being played by a different actor afterwards. - Christof reveals that he'd planned on the world's first on-air conception, but also that Truman would have a new love interest. Presumably she gets revealed as the new employee in Truman's office. So effectively Christof intended to pimp her out to Truman for the benefit of the audience.
"So effectively Christof intended to pimp her out to Truman for the benefit of the audience." Except that she would have signed up for that knowing the exact terms of her employment. Christof isn't forcing her to do it, other than heaping up an insane amount of money in her savings account, or that of whatever woman is willing to do it. Wasn't there something about Hannah Gill (Meryl) being the richest woman in the world? Presumably, she signed up for, I don't know, ten years, after which she would Divorce Truman, leave Seahaven, quit the show and retire insanely wealthy.
@@Baribrotzer And prostitutes that work for pimps don't have contracts of employment? Very naive. Wasn't suggesting she was working for free either. Just not earning as much as Christof
Also, classical music is timeless. Introducing new music would probably have meant introducing new musical acts and promotions. It would have made things infinitely more complicated for the producers
Also they couldn't force truman to like the music they would shell out for and would have an endless list they probably had to that was only played once but never again.
It also ties into their desire to weigh down Truman with all things TRADITIONAL. They don't want him interested in anything new or revolutionary - NOTHING that would lead to an increased interest in the outside world. They want HIM to not want anything to change.
Exactly! The set design for the movie and in universe for the show, is kept intentionally “out of time”. All the clothing, decor, and technology is a mix from different decades, so it doesn’t feel distinct to any one.
plus most Classical music is longer, so less talking was needed. but you have to say that it would equal only one radio station would be got on the radio. Since No standard radio station could be used as there would be a chance that the show would be said live and he would hear it.
You actually believe the Oscars are about the quality of the product??? Denzel Washington got an Oscar for Training Day, one of his worst roles, but nothing for Malcolm X, John Q or even Man on fire... three of his best roles.
You have to understand that The Truman Show came out the....actually knowing that Shakespeare In Love won best picture in 99 over the likes of The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, Armageddon, Good Will Hunting, and American History X, you're right this is a fucking travesty.
@@justincoleman3805That's the thing. Some aspects of Truman's world would seem odd to us. But if it's the status quo in his then it wouldn't stand out.
Actually, the "company car" explanation makes sense on another level: Truman has absolutely no need for a car. Truman never leaves (and isn't supposed to leave) the island, and Sea Haven is small enough to walk or bike anywhere within minutes (Seaside is only 80 acres, or 1/8th of a square mile, in size). There is no reason why Truman would spend thousands of dollars on a new car for as little as he uses it.
Wait, no, that doesn't work; Meryl explicitly says that the couple has car payments when citing financial obligations to dissuade Truman from going to Fiji.
The rectangular magnifying glass was super common in the US in the 70s and 80s, it's likely that it was more about aging it correctly to the mom. The trees were in straight rows because that's part of the 'New Urbanist' aesthetic that the real Seaside was designed with in 1946. I definitely missed the makeup bib and Sylvia's recruitments, though!
Yes! And even more so - rectangular magnifying glasses are very common with readers since it allows you to magnify and read an entire sentence instead of just a few words.
I agree about the trees, but that still makes the forest man made. As in they planted those trees for the show. Of corse it's still a 'real forest, the trees aren't plastic or anything, by a fake forest it just means it wasn't already growing there naturally like that, cause plants don't really do that.
Sure, they may have decided in the fiction that they were "planted for the show", but those trees (at the time of filming) were 50+ years old, so the idea would have to be pretty shoehorned in there. It seems more likely to me that they shot it in the forest around Seaside and didn't actually think about the implications of it being a planned forest.
she could have just said I was just having my lunch etc when she came back and took off the bib surely Truman would have seen it as soon as she came in. so removing it in a quick swipe as it was never there can not work.
It is a food napkin. Make-up "bibs" are different. Now if this was a movie moment and a movie prop for the excuse "mistakes happen filming in Seahaven studios... okay, that works.
Another thing people don't seem to notice is when they show the dance: the band is playing the song 20th century boy, which is a song from the 70s, but they're playing it in the style of 50s rock, which I always think was the movies' way of showing it meant they're trying to keep Truman and the place he lives in, in an idyllic 50s world.
It is a fantastic film but a very emotional one when he’s trying to break free on the boat, Jim Carey plays this part superbly despite his ushal hilarious normal characters in other films.
i dont really like jim carey movies dont find them a least bit funny. but trueman made me think different about him so much so i dont instantly dismiss him
I've often heard it's much more difficult to make people laugh than cry. This is probably the reason why comedic actors can have excellent dramatic vibe.
The forests around the area in Seaside (the real town Truman Show was filmed in) all look like that. The entire area was originally logging woods and parcels were sold off for developing beachside vacation communities. The trees are arraigned that way because after clearing all the pine they have machines that go back and plant new trees in rows. It works for the story of Truman show but is only incidental.
Also, the forest he is running through, is not really near the real Seaside Florida. It is located in another small town, Southport, just north of Panama City. It is just outside the gate of a real power generating plant on the north side of the bay. The "forest" consists of planted pine tree rows for pulp wood production. This "forest" is located about a mile through the woods from my childhood home. It was pretty cool watching this movie being filmed.
This looks no different than the forests near Tallahassee. The trees are lined up the same way. It's the same all over the Panhandle. As soon as I see it in any movie or TV show I know it's the Florida Panhandle.
@@toastyghosty489 Yep! St. Joe Paper. One of the largest land owners in Florida. The guy that made the video clearly didn't do his research about that part of Florida.
All the magnifying glasses my mother owned were square - in fact she had this exact one. The square ones were super popular in the 80s for reading. She used this particular one specifically for reading the news paper.
In the movie they say he caught a lot of things even people jumping out of boxes telling him it’s a show when he was a kid. That was maybe part of the message that he didn’t want to know really until later but there is a willing ignorance or something at some level or just not really paying attention for whatever reason or just trusting everyone else since his whole world told him the same Thing so he would decide to overlook the many instances of things being off. Which can relate to peoples life of going with their own instinct and rebelling against what everyone is telling you.
Imagine if you were 7 (or whatever) years old and someone popped out of a box and screamed "You're on TV!". Would you immediately assume that your town was a giant dome, everyone you ever knew was a paid actor, and your life was a complete fraud? I doubt it.
I think this is a great point and kind of an interesting take on Stockholm syndrome, not necessarily that Truman wanted to ignore those signs but it was genuinely too difficult for him to comprehend that possibility until he was much older and had a legitimate reason to doubt all that he knew.
I caught quite a few of these after one or two viewings, but a whole lot of them I never saw before. For example, I noticed the background characters going about their "jobs" but I never noticed Marlin taking candy OUT of the machine when Truman turned his head. Funny thing, though. I saw the Vitamin D supplements on Truman's table the first time I saw the movie. I noticed because both my wife and I take Vitamin D supplements for different medical conditions and I even remember remarking when I saw them, "Hey look, he takes supplements, too!" But I never put two and two together to realize he needed them because the light he lives under is artificial. Wonderful video that will enhance my enjoyment the next time I watch this movie.
As I watched the film I thought it owed a lot to 'The Prisoner', in terms of ubiquitous surveillance and manipulation. Then I noticed, in the control room, there was a penny farthing, a major symbol in 'The Prisoner', indicating that the producers acknowledged the heritage. I always wondered how many people would pick up on that.
I did see Prisoner as a kid as a one time summer series showing. Read later some episodes were shown out of order. Would not have known back then. 'Truman' no possible connection to another great 1998 film 'Dark City'. Worthy of mentioning together. I'd call it a sci fi film noir.
There was a Mockumentary made about this where the cast (The cast of the fictional show not the real cast of the movie) were interviewed and it was revealed that the actress playing Meryl got paid a 10K bonus every time she had sex with Truman. There was also a dropped storyline where the show wanted the first ever live conception and when the baby was born a 2nd show running 24/7 would start featuring the child now this was done for 2 reasons first off to get another show but also already setting up Truman’s replacement for when he gets old or if he got to Ill or had a accident and/or died due to it.
@@JakeLYT the child wouldn’t be with him 24/7 it would go to school and be at home when Truman was at work it would spend time with “friends” etc The show would probably set up situations where they were apart as well. I don’t know why they dropped that bit as it was filmed and the the deleted scenes were on the dvd and can be found online. I think it showed even more how they didn’t really care about him and to them he was just a thing to exploit and when a time came where he was no longer useful they would just get rid and move on with the next one plus it could show the actress who played Meryl was willing to just use her own child and give it up to the show as I think she has already signed any future child over to the show for more money (or go another way and have her genuinely care about it and show what she did she deeply regrets and tries to get it back)
@@JakeLYT It would just be a parallel production with the kid as the focal point instead. Certainly there would be loads of overlap in the beginning where they spend a lot of time together, but Truman is at work for hours a day, so viewers can choose which channel they prefer or switch back and forth. I imagine some of it would feel like watching a sporting event flipping back and forth between the broadcasts that favor each team.
@@JakeLYT Not necessarily. They could just fake the child's death if they wanted to make a new location or create some reason why the child has to be separated from Truman like his wife divorcing him and getting the kid
One thing I definitely missed was the significance of the first names of the actors playing his wife and his best friend. I guessed straight away that Meryl was probably named in honour of Meryl Streep but it was about 20 years after my first viewing that I realised that Marlon was probably named after Marlon Brando.
@@poptarget no it was definitely Marlon Brando. The movie had a lot of character names as well as street names based on old timey hollywood celebs or other older famous people. Barrymore street, Lancaster square, and Marlon's real name (in the movie) is Louis Coltrane, which is an amalgamation of Louis Armstrong and John Coltrane. Lauren Garland is an amalgamation of Lauren Baccal and Judy Garland, etc.
It was a great movie. The only thing I ALWAYS found weird, already when I watched it the first time as a child were the scenes where truman started acting out in public, and instead of reacting on him like "hey, what is wrong with you, do you need help, can someone call cop XY he will know what to do..." ANYTHING? But instead the actors just frezzed in place like some kind of animal and waited for truman to move on. Even when he was standing in front of the bus, gestureing weirdly towards the driver, it always weirded me out that the bus drived didn't stick out his head and yelled "get of the roead!" And maybe someone who knows him, pushing him from the road to the sidewalk and asking what is wrong with him. That was the weirdest
after so many decades of perfectly planned performance, most of those actors probably would just freeze up in shock at Truman becoming self aware and challenging them off-script, so to speak
I thought the same. lol Then I realized it's on purpose. If you're acting, you're not gonna have the same emotional reactions you would normally. They'd have to think and consider their next action if things go off-script and then wonder if it'd be okay for _them_ to go off-script too. With how much the director controlled everything and how often the extras were on earpieces, they probably weren't allowed to improv without being told.
gonna call Nope on the magnifying glass - rectangular magnifiers for reading are extremely common, see them more than round ones, and when this film was released TVs were mostly square.
Agreed that outside of films, rectangular ones are more common, although I used to sell them a lot, mos of the ones I sold didn't have anywhere near as thick of a surrounding.... I think they definitely tried to make it look like a TV though
OK loved all of that except the magnifying glass thing. Those were incredibly common in the 80s and 90s and in fact were probably more available than a round one.
Also the fact that a TV in the 90's was basically square, not nearly as rectangle as the magnifying glass. Modern TVs are much more rectangular and much more similar to the magnifying glass used in the movie, but that is modern people making modern assumptions.
For point #2, regularly spaced pine forests are actually a real thing in North America, as they are replanted after clear-cut forestry, to rebuild burned areas, or anywhere that a forest is desired, and can often be seen in many near urban or wilderness areas. While your point about the forest being "man-made" is well taken, it isn't nearly as unlikely as your commentary claims.
Was looking for this comment. The pine tree thing is def advantageous for the man-made illusion but it's probably just that way because people farm pine in that area. I'd like to know more about why the real Directors chose Seaside.
Absolutely! I live in this area and the planted pines always stand out to me whenever I see them in a movie or TV show. For another example, look for the Crocodile Hunter episode filmed at Eglin Air Force Base, very near where the Truman show was filmed.
@@mehere8038 they would, but the forests in North America are usually commercial. So they have a financial loss from forest fires and can't just wait for the trees to do their own thing.
I remember driving in some beautiful town thinking I’ve seen this place before.. and turns out it was where most of The Truman Show was filmed. Seaside Florida is such a beautiful town.
What hit me the hardest was the audience enjoying watching another human being live in a glass house (cage), held against his will and knowledge. Trueman was a lab-rat for everyone else's amusement. This brilliant movie shows the true nature of human beings. All the people around Truman cared about was a paycheck. Money make people do things outside of their norm.
reminds me of the end of Stone Cold's movie The Condemned. the reporter at the end (talking about the show live feeds in the movie), explains that at first, she thought the criminals on the show were "the condemned", but after seeing millions of people pay to watch it all unfold, she says, "are WE... the condemned"...i caught chills.
I was asked to watch this as part of my uni politics course to teach us about 'big brother' culture which was a huge issue late 2000's. It's still relevant today
It is real. The Truman show is reality for some of us and they mock us with things from it. Another movie is RIA. There is no getting away. We don't know who the audience is, maybe deep web? But you wouldn't believe who gets cameos. If I've had the misfortune to have seen anyone famous, and I have seen many, I automatically conclude the worst.
This is an awesome movie! I think it’s one of Jim’s best movies. I love it when he realises what is really going on but makes out he is back to his old self.. even us viewers don’t realise until he vanishes.
Classical music may be in the public domain, but the recording of the performances is often times NOT in the public domain and is subject to copyright laws/royalties. Since audio recording didn't exist in the days of Bach, the recordings are modern, usually done by famous symphonies and are copyrighted.
@@AndreiFierbinteanu yes the music itself is without copyright so all that would happen is the production would drop a lump of cash on an orchestra and hire them. Or presumably in the setting the show is backed by an existing entertainment conglomerate which probably already owned classical recordings they had full control of.
Also, Burbank is it's own bubble city in the middle of the greater Los Angeles area. Burbank has it's own police force, fire department, public schools, water & power and even it's own National Guard.
The missed point about the manmade forest is somewhat untrue. Those sorts of forests are prevalent in areas like Florida and Georgia because they are usually planted by paper tree companies. Pines grow fairly quickly compared to other trees and are used for paper mills. The paper companies will replant new tress in rows like shown in the movie after they have cut down the existing trees. It's doubtful that the production company would have had to create a forest like that when they are quite common.
You are correct, however I think the intent was to show the production company of the Truman Show Had to plant a forest, and the planted forests that exist everywhere where I live, (very near Seaside, FL) were A perfect and clever inclusion.
@@chumrob100 I doubt the production company planted that forest though. While the forest is man made, those trees are about 6-8 years old. It seems more likely that they scouted the location rather than finding some land to plant the trees 4-6 years before starting production on the movie.
Rectangular magnifying glasses were common, my grandparents had one. Beyond that, thank you for all the other interesting tidbits. The Psalms 139 was definitely an interesting layered easter egg
The Psalm 139 reference is a pretty interesting one, and the parallels are quite obvious (though take on a rather sinister undertone when applied to Truman's context). For anyone who doesn't know the passage, here's the relevant excerpt: "O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me... Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall lead me." (Psalm 139:1-5, 6-7, NKJV)
I always wonder, when Truman goes to the travel agency and when he stays at his car looking for patterns of the bicyle, flowers and car, almost figuring things out, why did nobody intervene? If there are cameras everywhere, wouldn't they see him doing suspicious stuff like that?
Going to the travel agent... what are they supposed to do? Have it suddenly close? Block him, like they tried to do other times? They decided to just quickly play along, and have all flights be "booked". Perfectly reasonable. As for the patterns... he sat in his car, watching, presumably in silence. It wasn't until he told his "wife" about the patterns that anyone from the show could know what he was thinking. And by then, it was too late to warn the extras.
The forest is typical of many in the South that are periodically cut for its pine lumber by the landowner and then replanted for subsequent cutting in 20 to 30 years. The trees are often replanted in straight rows. The scene was likely shot in one of these pine forests.
Just wanted to add something you may have missed but I don't think the bus driver broke the buses transmission on purpose I think he did it because he didn't know how to drive the bus because if you remember later on in the movie the same actor who drives the bus is the same actor they're trying to get to drive the boat out on the artificial ocean to search for Truman but someone comes over the PA system and says they don't know how to drive the boat they're actors.
I thought the same at first but how did the bus get there then? The town is supposed to function, even actors in movies learn how to do stuff to pretend to work doing that so why wouldn’t they know their supposed job in the Truman show?
This is correct I think. I know a bus driver who said old buses (maybe like the one on set) had double declutching, even multiple transmissions that had to be worked manually, no synchromesh. Wrong order or wrong gear at wrong speed with wrong torque = destroyed gearbox. He said it was a lot of work he's glad never to have again. So, I believe theory checks out, although it does seem like he is trying as hard as possible to wreck it in the movie, in line with Kristof's demands.
A Spaniard here. Just a little detail: the Santa María wasn't "THE" boat of Christopher Columbus, but one of them: La Niña (the girl, named like that because it was the smallest), La Pinta (the Pinto Bean, because it was darker) and La Santa María (the Holy Mary). Also, Columbus didn't own any of those ships, but the Pinzon brothers, who were also part of the crew.
The Pinzon Brothers did not own the ships. One was the captain of the Nina, the other was the captain of the Pinta. The three ships were owned by different people. No one person owned the fleet.
Another Easter egg: We see a few extras get the newspaper “Dog Fancy” from the news stand. This contains real world news. They were banking on Truman not buying it because he doesn’t like dogs.
It is him in a different scene where dawn is breaking and Christof is wandering a large stage and a pianist below him is playing the soundtrack, that is Philip Glass. Just after Truman reunites with his dad and before he disappears.
I thought you might mention how the street names were names after classic Hollywood actors, and the cast named after others, including more recent ones: Marlon (Brando), Meryl (Streep), Vivian (Leigh), Angela (Lansbury or Cartwright), Lauren (Bacall)
@@AJARyan-yn2uv Oh, I never thought about Mr Capote... I originally thought it was after Harry Truman, since the fashion in the movie resembles early 1950s styles. But the "official" explanation is that he is the only "True Man"... although the Capote theory fits in perfectly.
I would have loved to see a sequel of the Truman show where he struggles to adapt in real life and he gets to interact with all the characters on the show outside of acting
I’ve always wondered why is there no sequel of this movie. Just the story of how he found his true love while struggling with depression after finding out his life is a lie … I mean… please??
@@lola1033 wouldn't that ruin the whole message tho? Like after he escapes the fake world around him, why should he continue to be watched by an outside source? He's free and that's what's important
@@primitivechef8009 It doesn't have to be filmed as if he's being watched by cameras though does it! Or does it? Maybe on the outside Truman discovers he has no skills of way to make a living & maybe he agrees to be followed by a documentary or reality film crew as a way of making a living or building support for his case for compensation against those that exploited him for his whole childhood?
Here is another one: When we first see Truman in his office there is in the foreground on the desk a round black ball, the top of which is white. The white contains the number 8 and the ball is resting on a small flat surface on which this toy can show any one of eight random "fortunes." He is in that scene literally "behind the eight ball."
One classical piece is a "Rondo" (by Mozart?) when there is an aerial shot of the town. Truman tells Meryl later that he has discovered the actors are on a loop. "They just go round and round." The music is mirroring just that.
When it comes to the new Fords (10:50), there's a mention of "New Car Day" somewhere in the film. So evidently there's a made-up holiday in Seahaven when everybody gets a new car, it probably happens every year - and presumably if another auto company gave the producers a better deal, those new cars wouldn't be Fords.
I once heard that, if you can afford a car on finance, you can afford an island that same way. The Vitamin D thing makes me realize; if the Truman showrunners could afford that dome, why didn't they just pick out a choice island and build their set there? Heck, why didn't they CONSTRUCT an island at Point Nemo? It would keep Truman away from non-actors naturally.
Good thinking! If I had to come up for a reason, it could be for logistics: It hard to ship in and out actors, far more easy and practical to do it by car. And the dome provides the perfectly controlled environment, compared to an island without dome.
Logistics and control. Much harder and 10x more expensive to get crew, actors, and supplies to and from an island all the time. Also, if on a real island instead of a set, there'd be no control of the weather or day/night cycles which are shown to be important tools for manipulating Truman, contriving storylines, and covering up exposures.
If you notice right after the Mt Rushmore picture he continues looking through the picture book and sees his wife crossing her fingers in the wedding photo, that is the first time in the movie that he starts to suspect his wife or Marlon may be in on it. Then in the next conversion with his wife he says "I'll cross my fingers for you" which i think is hilarious
Also, another commonly missed detail is in the beginning, when the light falls from the sky, there’s a label on it reading “Sirius” which is the name of an actual star, meaning the set likely had accurate star placements and constellations 🤪👍🏻
Although the trees in the film may assumed to be fake as part of the set, they are probably real. Many places in the US plant trees around reservoirs. Also there are many tree farms that plant trees for lumber production. They are always in straight rows and spaced perfectly apart. They can cover hundreds of acres of land.
I remember in the 90s that NASA's biosphere program was in the news. Even in pop culture just two years before this film was released the comedy Bio Dome was released. I had always assumed that the creators of the Truman show took hints from NASA and made the set a self sustainable eco system with natural vegetation.
Square magnifying glasses are common for reading or looking at larger print. You wouldn't want to scan a glass across a line of text constantly. It's easier if you magnify an entire line at once.
The funniest part about it being filmed in seaside is that a LOT of areas are exactly the same or super similar. Truman’s house for example looks almost the same, a bunch of signs from the show are still there, the town square has changed but the bones of it are the same with new building added since the time they filmed and so many more.
Polaris would be more symbolic as a guiding star. Sirius doesn't even show that much in the sky in the northern latitudes, definitely not directly overhead when it's not winter. I don't think they put a lot of thought into the name.
Yeah, in my experience, the rectangular ones are more common for reading because mentally we like rectangular fields of view. Whereas the round ones are for inspecting things because it gives a "spotlight" like focus on a single point. Growing up we had both: rectangle in drawer of office for paperwork, round in utility room and shed for crafting/repair work.
That magnifying glass was a reading magnifying glass and they are rectangular in shape to minimise distortion. My grandparents had a couple that looked exactly like that. So Truman’s elderly mother having one is simply the way it is. I doubt it has anything to do with a subtle nod to Truman being on a tv show.
There should already be a sequel to this movie! I wonder how shocked Truman would be in a few years after he got out of the dome to witness in the real world the advent of real-life tv shows, our craziness for selfie pics and videos, and addiction to social media. The very things that he grew up with in the dome that denied him his freedon all his life.😭
I took our family by the community where the movie was filmed while we were on vacation close by. We drove by the house Jim Carrey walked out of and smiled as he said his lines. The house is in Seaside Florida at 31 Natchez street, but the owners kept the 36 on the front over the door. Unique community, lots of foot traffic and people on bicycles. Quaint, beautiful, and pleasant. And you can't beat the sugary white sands along 30A of the Emerald coast. Just my opinion
We went there many years ago and again 4 years ago. It's a pretty planned community, but now the plants and trees have really filled in the yards. It looks very different, but you can still pick out scene locations.
Another possible detail is the producer was planning a way for him to go on a holiday to reduce his suspicion. In one scene when he wanted to book a holiday they actually gave him a possible time be that a long wait but not impossible. Which may explain the other island
I lived in this part of Florida when this was shot, I was actually late to school one day because they were filming on deer point dam bridge (the one he can't cross himself) I wasn't going to comment, but with one of the last ones, about the trees in a line, there are actually several man made forrests around this part of Florida, there was one my dad pointed out to me that he helped make in school I believe. So it probably wasn't planted by the production crew, but they used one of the ones already in existence in that particular area.
In the background, a man with a dark maroon suit with glasses and a hat can be seen everywhere. From the newspaper kiosk to the town square, it seems as though that the man is a spy and was hired to make sure that Truman stays calm during the show. Pretty cool detail.
It didn't predict the future - it merely described the present. "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen" - George Orwell, 1984
As anyone who has posted on TH-cam is aware of, adding classic music might not require you to pay the composer, BUT the orchestra that performed the music has rights too. The show will have to have new performances of the classic pieces recorded.
We see a guy playing the piano. So yeah they get some folks in have them record royalty free music. Likely produce some original music. In that world maybe some popular sounds were recorded for the show.
@@DesignIncase This was for a live soundtrack produced on the fly to give whatever emotional weight they wanted to the scene of the moment. It was also a lot simpler then the classical music. I do hope they paid their live music studio a good wage for being on call 24/7 to accompany Truman's life at any moment.
Love this film. So relatable if you come from an insincere horrendous family who lie for fun and hurt you whilst smiling. Makes me cry everytime I watch it.
4:52 I had a completely different take on the bus driver scene. I think it was yet another allusion to the fact that everyone in Truman's world is an actor rather than what they appear to be (i.e. the actor is not a bus driver and therefore doesn't know how to operate the bus).
You know the one thing I never understood is why instead of a catering service they wouldn't simply just have actual vending machine stockers or cooks etc. Have the cast and crew be given a certain amount of fake money a day to spend around town eating and shopping, it contributes to the world building and considering Truman's schedule is known at all times you can always make sure it doesn't interfere with whatever he's doing. Also a rotation and restaurants and eateries would allow for greater opportunity for advertisement pushing, as Truman could be easily pressed by friends and family to go check out new additions to the town under the guise of trying new things.
It's a good point. There's a theory, I don't remember who came up with it, that much of Seahaven actually is a functional town. That is the show helps pay for itself and it's massive cast by having normal businesses operate in the many buildings that occupy the site. And they would do things like process the orders for the items sold on the show, software development, (fittingly) insurance, publishing, or basically anything that requires a call center. The stipulation being that most of these people are not allowed to interact with Truman. Perhaps some even live in Seahaven, at least part time. With the rest either being bussed in or using underground tunnels Truman doesn't know about. Interesting theory, but if that was the case, there wouldn't be a need to have a fake elevator with a craft service table. They would, have real buildings (not facades) and, as you say, real jobs performed by the "extras".
As per the vitamin D thing, the studio could simply mix UV lights in with the studio lighting outside. It would do the exact same thing as natural sunlight to give Truman vitamin D.
Instances of Friday the 13th occurring in December only happened twice in the 1990s: 1991 and 1996. So 1996 seems like the obvious in-dome year. However, since the in-dome world is completely fictional, there is no reason, other than convenience, that they would have to use our calendar.
Actually the "forests" in FL near roads usually have the trees in grids because they were planted this way. It's all over FL, vast swaths of pine tree grids. Since this was filmed in FL that forest is about as realistic to life as it gets!
I'd hate it if that ever happened. Because I'd feel obliged to watch (and just be curious of) whatever happened to Truman afterwards while I want the "open" ending to remain - it's much more thought-provoking and (don't laugh) hopeful. Gives me much stronger emotion rush rather then a fleeting enjoyment from yet-another-plot-closure would.
you would have to ask who would he earn money his job was given to him, there is no job interview and any thing he learned mean not be high enough for him to get a job in the real world. And take it he is a Big star know worldwide. he is more likely to be mobbed every time he goes out. Any film could include what happens to the director and how the massive costs of the show and all the staff move on. we know who he will be with but not how it is going to work, he only knows the life in a small place with everything given to him on a plate. he has not seen so much of the bad but only the good
The soda cans, or lack of soda cans was the one thing I caught as a kid and pointed out to my parents. "Good catch!" From then on Ive tried to remain eagle eyed but I'd rather just enjoy the movies
Tree forest reference: In many forested areas of Florida, much of the land areas are actually owned/leased by paper mill companies. The companies periodically harvest those areas and replant the pine trees seen in them. The state of Florida is has many of these areas, so the forest is both wild and man made at the same time.
They could have kept Truman’s suspicion from developing by setting the tv show in a slightly post-apocalyptic setting. Saying he can’t leave the island because most of the world is uninhabited.
We've had to cut out a few segments due to a copyright claim so apologies for that. Hope you enjoyed the list though and let us know any more things we missed!
You speak ENTIRELY too quickly for effective comprehension. It resembles an urgent news report. Very annoying. I used the 0.75 speed to keep my sanity.
Does this include #1, or was that intentionally just "this is it"?
Thanks for the clarification.
What was the #19?
@@enriquesanchez2001 sharpen your ears then mate
My favorite part about the movie is the end. We see no more of Truman after he leaves and it’s super cool because it reflects his new life. We don’t get to see what happens to him because there are no cameras on him anymore.
That makes a lot of sense
The Truman show never ended. They just made us all Trumans lol
A sequel would be cool though.
My question is how is this legal, even in a movie
@@shaktianna money
Truman's car does not have head rests, in order to keep him in a clear view of the backseat camera. A subtle example of them willing to compromise his safety for a little extra production value.
It also has a Service Engine Soon and (I think) an ABS warning light on the dash. He seems pretty meticulous, that should have bothered him. Hell, it even bothers me, even on my almost 20 year old cars....
Many shows and movie cars don't have headrests for camera shots in the vehicles
All cars in movies doesn’t have headrests
@@ax3226 this is true
My name👍
Another thing about the Mt Rushmore picture. His 'mom' says "you slept the whole way". I always took that to mean that it was incredibly possible they drugged/knocked out Truman in order to give him the illusion of traveling. Another way to show just how dark the reality of the situation is, without getting too explicit.
I figured since he was young they probably just told him to take a quick nap and when he woke up they told him they were already there.
Yes! I thought exactly the same thing!
I DEFINITELY thought the same thing...drugs were definitely used.
@@matthewwriter9539 i mean (bad) parents do it to giving there kids sleep aids like melatonin when they want to go out late
It's obvious they are telling him that as he naturally would have no memory as an adult, of that trip because its a fake picture and the event never took place.
A few other things I only recently noticed:
1) During the on-air interview, Christof receives a call from The Hague, but the call gets dropped. The implication seems to be that Christof may be facing prosecution by the International Court of Justice for crimes against humanity, and the call staff barely realizes this in time to prevent the call from airing live.
2) Stripes figure prominently in most of Truman's outfits, reinforcing the idea that he is a prisoner.
3) When the "cease transmission" order is given at the end of the film, Christof slumps forward until his head hits the static-filled screen. Whether this implies literal death from the strain of failure or not, Christof's life is at least figuratively over, as the project that he poured his whole life into has come to an end.
Lol
The Hague call was received by the show hosting Christof on air, and I actually think their getting cut off was just an indication of the fact that there is no communication when it comes to actual human rights in the world now.
Europe has always quietly protested America's more atrocious bullshit. And vice versa.
YOOO
Good observations!
I remember walking into the theater at the age of 17 in 1998 thinking that I was going to see a comedy due to Jim Carrey's previous work. What I saw that day was a breath taking story that alters our perception of reality. This was unlike anything I'd seen before or even after and showed the potential of what Jim can do outside of comedy slapstick.
A good companion film that came out roughly the same time was Dark City. Both movies feature a man who is watched, experimented with, who tries to escape … both these films (precursors to the Matrix - another “this reality is a construction” movie) were so fabulous.
Same thought it was goin to be laughting the whole time but the surprise was even better
That’s pretty smart understanding this movie at 17 👍
me too, born in 1981 here😂. i watched it in italy 😊
Truman's wife was a nurse so that could mean long hours at "work", medical seminars etc.
Hardly a vacation...
@@nvstewart I believe they meant that long hours and medical seminars and the like would make an excuse for her absence while she went on vacations or to visit friends or reunions, etc.
I assumed she took her breaks (visiting relatives or something) alone anyway because of Truman's debilitating travel phobia. She doesn't need a special contract for that, only for having sex with Truman.
@VelktorCreationsMFQ Yeah, but what about the many years before?
I'd assume her time at work was time off too. When she comes home she still looks absolutely perfect, but nobody looks like that at the end of a shift.
I always thought the reason why they never had music other than classical was to further isolate Truman from the outside world and help keep him ignorant. Lyrics could cause him to question the reality that they've constructed for him.
"despite all my rage I'm still just a rat in a cage" given that photo of him as a clown behind bars...
Me too. Lyrics would only cause problems for the whole illusion. Truman would have too many questions.
That completely violates the world Truman is in. They ground him in a real world, the lights in the night sky are supposed to be real star locations. Truman lives in a city that exist in the US. They go as far as to tell him real nations. This never made sense to me at all. If they were going to have him live in a fiction world, they should of 100% made the entire universe up.
@@Seriona1 It's all about the audience, if it was made up, you have to let them follow without asking there to be a guide to it...they would have the book of truman but to have otherworldly details would limit the reach
@@AuroDHikoshi It just goes against the concept of control. He leaves the dome, he has some idea of what the real world is. By putting in a fiction world, it might make him think about not leaving the world.
I've always liked this wacky attention to detail: At the start of the movie, a light falls from the sky and Truman happens to be nearby, when he picks it up, on it is a label that says "Sirius (α Canis Major)." Sirius (designated α Canis Major) is the brightest star in the night sky, and the fact that the light was labeled with that name implies that there are more lights like the one that fell near Truman that replicate the real life constellations inside the dome.
That makes sense the light was for stars oh I just assumed that the whole thing was lit up some how by those things
I also watched a video, where it is implied that the show is in financial trouble (the light fell off due to lack of maintenance etc),
Which is why they were pushing so hard for a pregnancy (to help boost the ratings).
Also kind of make sense because Truman is the brightest star of his show
Also the brightest star is related to Lucifer, so it's like the fallen angel.
@@notsureyou That doesn't make much sense, considering how seemingly popular Truman is in the show.
In the magazine kiosk all the magazines are related to low risk activities that can be done around the house, such as gardening, dogs and parenting magazines. Nothing that might tempt Truman in doing something risky or thinking of locales away from the set.
Hopefully no DIY magazines. He may end up finding cameras.
I believe there was a moment where Meryl distracts Truman by saying that they wanted to try for a baby. That means Meryl was willing to be impregnated for the show OR her and her real-life partner were scheduling a child around the show. It also means that the baby, much like Truman, would be on camera from birth.
So she was selfish enough to make her child go through all these?
Pathetic mother
I guess as she was Truman's fuil time wife, she would have consummate, otherwise he would realise that something was wrong!
That makes her literally a prostitute and the "unprofessional" line in the movie hits harder!
Maybe she was bluffing about getting pregnant. She definitely considered her relationship as a job and herself as a professional. So maybe she had ways to avoid getting pregnant. But what I really think is, she drugged him before, you know...and he wakes up next day thinking they were intimate.
Maybe im thinking of a deleted scene? But i do seem to recall Christof talking about trying to get the right for the first on air copulation, or something along those lines. Likely Meryl is willing to commit her entire being to the show
There's a deleted scene where the cast (including Meryl's replacement, "Vivian," who flirted with Truman at work) meet, and it's clear that having a baby is part of the show plot, as there are plans to start a two-channel format when the baby is born. (Vivian also jokes, "Let’s hope we don't have twins," which a producer finds hilarious while Marlon is clearly irked by the callousness with which the issue is treated.)
I always wonder: How many actors in the show, if they met Truman on the outside, would show remorse for their actions, indifference or resentment for losing their jobs?
If they showed resentment for losing their jobs, they are sociopaths that don't care that a man had no freedom and nobody should feel bad for them.
@@markmitera4521 I think perhaps some of them were. I've heard of extra materials for the film which had some of the actors saying they couldn't stand Truman - as though his was a character that could be rewritten.
Marlon’s drinking seems to be driven by guilt.
@@sprontos maybe but he's the most manipulative of them all and is one hell of an obedient lapdog in the searching when truman goes missing
@@salmonellq2981 he was put up to this as a child and is now clearly racked with guilt. You should grow up and get your wmotions in check or the nuance of films like this will be forever lost on you.
A deleted scene noted that literally EVERYTHING that is seen on The Truman Show is available for purchase via their catalog. Clothing, jewelry, food, cars, appliances, furniture, and even the houses. Meryl noted in an interview that her necklace was a top selling item (presumably without the micro-camera, naturally).
we might be talking about different scenes, but there is one where it shows all the merchandise available during a news segment
I swear the scene isn't deleted when Christoph is having an interview he says everything you see on set is for sale. From clothes down to the very houses they live in
I saw it
I remember seeing that seen but I watched it on the dvd version so maybe it’s different on something else
@@Lilyjem39 The broadcast version is slightly different.
I just noticed something new for the first time. At 7m 55s in, Truman is on the beach and lightning strikes. You can see the flash in the moon, now that would be impossible in the real world. But if the moon is on the side of the dome, it would light up with lightning.
Finding Easter Eggs in a video about Easter Eggs. You win for now.
On the side... plz change to on the inside
Wow right after the did you know guy made a video about it crazy coincidence
I came here to write a similar post. Except I saw it on Allen Tsai's channel.
Isn’t that one of the most well known things from the Truman Show?
Big one yall missed: the bus driver.
The bus driver has to fake the bus breaking down when Truman tries to go to Chicago to take a flight from there to Fiji. But the show can't let him leave so the driver has to sabotage the bus so Truman can't leave. However, the bus driver is remorseful, telling Truman he's sorry. Then later, when the ferry is needed for the show to chase after Truman, the bus driver redeems himself by sabotaging the ferry so Truman can escape.
I had noticed this the very first time I watched the movie. I thought the driver saw that Truman was trying to escape his slavery and held much guilt in holding him back. The actor did a great job in showing his guilt with his apology.
we all saw that
Not all obviously as no Reactors seem to catch it.
I’ve read different takes on that guy, either he was purposefully sabotaging the rides or, because he was an actor and never actually meant to sail, he didn’t know how to
i don’t think he sabotaged the bus or ferry on purpose, he probably doesn’t actually know how to operate it and the bus was gonna break down regardless
I think Marlon's sickness when they tried camping out was also another way of stifling young Truman's spirit of adventure. He goes sailing and "kills his father", he goes camping playing explorers and almost kills his best friend. Marlon's line about delivering all over the country while working was more about his time off.
The lights, however, must have had a UV component (negating the need for vitamin D) or all of the plants, including the fake forest, would have died.
Not really. UV ranges from 10-400 nm. Chlorophyll absorption has two peaks, one around 425-475 nm (visible blue light) and another around 640-670nm (visible red light). UV isn't necessary for photosynthesis, nor is green light which chlorophyll reflects. This is why efficient plant-growth lights will generally have a specific mix of LEDs; mostly blue, some red, and sometimes just a smattering of white for overall balance and visibility.
The reason plants don't do well without UV, as demonstrated in various RL enclosed environment experiments, is because it inhibits pollinators like Bees which rely on UV to see patterns on flowers to direct them to the nectar/pollen like landing strips. Without UV light, these patterns would be invisible to them, they'd starve out, and the plants would die off as a result. But that can easily™ be addressed via artificial pollination.
@@omargoodman2999 Great info! 👍🏼👍🏼
I always figured that the two times Marlon is mentioned as being away (the sickness mentioned, and when Truman mentions he was “hauling chickens for Kaiser”) were to give the actor “time off”.
The director had an idea for the cinema release, but the technology wasn't quite there yet. At a point in the film, the screen would change to a live view of the cinema audience watching the movie. Think about where there's the cuts between all the different groups of people watching Truman and then YOU are in the movie, watching the movie, in the movie.
But digital projectors to make that possible wouldn't make their way into theatres until over a decade later.
Time for a special showing!
@@seppyq3672 Or a sequel about Truman's ongoing struggle to escape Christof's legal right to film and broadcast every detail of his life, in or out of the dome. So Truman is continually being filmed, whether he knows it or not. And what's being filmed is what we're watching. And the movie could even intercut live footage of actual people watching in theaters, TVs, or even on their computers and iPads.
@@seppyq3672 Damn, I never thought of that. Classic theatres screening classic films could implement the idea RIGHT NOW and blow away an audience that've seen it 20 times.
If you wanted to get real dystopian, when watching on a streaming service it could display cameras on the same wifi network in your home.
I think I prefer the movie without that.
I'd personally love to see a take on one of the early ideas for the movie. Basically it was all still a fake world, but Truman was a superhero fighting crime. Though I imagine that might be seen as a little cliche seeing as I know I've seen a few stories where a superhero realizes they exist as a fictional character.
You missed a couple. The motto on the archway - “UNUS PRO OMNIBUS, OMNES PRO UNO” - one for all, all for one in Latin was fitting as Truman’s existence was for the entertainment of all, and everyone on the set was there for Truman. Also, all the street names and character names were after famous actors. Lancaster Square, Barrymore Road. His wife was Meryl, best friend Marlon, secret love Lauren Garland (Lauren Bacall, Judy Garland).
Now that I never caught! Thanks! 😀
Yes, that's something I noticed right away!
And Lauren looks like a young Meryl Streep perhaps the inspiration for the wife's name?
I would love to see a true sequel, not a studio cash grab, but a true, well done exploration of Truman's adjusting to life in the real world.
You're better off doing it to someone else... maybe as a desperate attempt to carry on after all the money that was pumped in but it clashes because it's not as watched as it once was.
We are the sequel.
I think if they did it immediately it would work. He's too old to make it make sense now. He could adjust to life after the hype of how famous he used to be. Maybe desperate to go back?
It could be interesting to see Truman having difficulties adapting to his life in the real world. Being constantly recognized as a celebrity, hounded for autographs, paparazzi everywhere. He could be paranoid that he was still being watched 24/7 and thinking cameras are everywhere. He could go back to Christoff begging to have his life back only to be turned away. It would be an interesting look at how someone has to adapt to survive.
@@Jay-ate-a-bug He does. Jim Carrey plays himself and the (Truman) show goes on. We are all the other actors on a broader scale, unbeknownst, playing our little "roles".
You know a film is a classic when you can constantly rewatch and are still talking about it like 25 years later.
also you dont realise that it is 25 years old and still so freaking close to our TV watching habits NOW
A true masterpiece for sure. And too far out for the herd to ever grasp. I’m referring to the one’s still standing in line for the clot shot after all the info is out characterizing it as a game of Russian Roulette at best.
And every time you watch it you notice new things you haven't noticed before.
Don’t say 25 years old yet. Don’t make my birth year too far 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂. We still got few months
It's bcuz it represents such a unique cloak of sadistic relevance.
Truman had a handler throughout the film, ans can be seen in many places. When Truman first almost hits the old lady, his handler can be seen in the background when he parks his car. Can also be seen when Truman sees his dad as a homeless guy. His handler is calling out actions in his sleeve of his coat when Truman runs after him. His handler can also be seen at the news stand, and gets caught when Truman sees him waiting after he sits down from being thrown out of the building.
The fact that people like the travel agent or the bus driver being actors makes sense but it's the people at the hospital not really being medics that surprised me. If it is supposed to be a functional town, what would they do if Truman injured himself? And obviously he and others would need regular doctor and dentist appointments.
The surgery scene is funny though!
They could have be real doctors, they only faked the surgery because the wife said they had a big operation that day and Truman came in unexpectedly so they threw it together at the last minute.
@@420mralucard possibly but as the husband of a doctor, I think she would be able to pretend she was operating without scaring the patient to death! 😅
One actual doctor would be enough to take care of the medical needs of the staff and Truman but them paying a doctor to be a full time extra at a hospital set would be wasteful.
@@420mralucard No doctor would do that.
@@redrick8900 I mean... a lot of the people involved in the TV show have questionable ethics so given that we're talking about people who would take a child and make his entire world a big fish tank filled with fake fish as his friends and family... I could believe a few medical staff would pretend to do a surgery asap. They're not ACTUALLY operating.
I teach Sociology at A-Level and use The Truman Show every year to introduce my students to research methods (it is simultaneously an observation, a field and a lab experiment, and with elements of interviews). There's some incredible new piece of detail that detail
gets spotted every year. For example:
- Truman never swears, nor does anyone swear around him. The only bit of questionable language in the whole film is when one of the extras says "just find the son of a bitch" after Truman escapes. It could be because of the rating of the movie, or more likely Truman doesn't actually know what swearing is since the show about his life is broadcasting 24/7, and the Producer couldn't risk colourful language before any watershed.
- In the flashback scene to the prom, Truman is the only male wearing a white tux. Presumably to make him that much easier to recognise to the viewer.
- I picked up on Marlon catching pneumonia and always interpreted it as the character being played by a different actor afterwards.
- Christof reveals that he'd planned on the world's first on-air conception, but also that Truman would have a new love interest. Presumably she gets revealed as the new employee in Truman's office. So effectively Christof intended to pimp her out to Truman for the benefit of the audience.
"So effectively Christof intended to pimp her out to Truman for the benefit of the audience."
Except that she would have signed up for that knowing the exact terms of her employment. Christof isn't forcing her to do it, other than heaping up an insane amount of money in her savings account, or that of whatever woman is willing to do it. Wasn't there something about Hannah Gill (Meryl) being the richest woman in the world? Presumably, she signed up for, I don't know, ten years, after which she would Divorce Truman, leave Seahaven, quit the show and retire insanely wealthy.
@@Baribrotzer And prostitutes that work for pimps don't have contracts of employment? Very naive.
Wasn't suggesting she was working for free either. Just not earning as much as Christof
@@justincoleman3805 prostitution is still legal in many places. If its healthy prostitutes and their "pimps" could absolutely have genuine paperwork
Love how they can’t have swearing but on screen conception was ok haha
It would probably be better to use a real example for your Sociology class.
Also, classical music is timeless. Introducing new music would probably have meant introducing new musical acts and promotions. It would have made things infinitely more complicated for the producers
Also they couldn't force truman to like the music they would shell out for and would have an endless list they probably had to that was only played once but never again.
It also ties into their desire to weigh down Truman with all things TRADITIONAL. They don't want him interested in anything new or revolutionary - NOTHING that would lead to an increased interest in the outside world. They want HIM to not want anything to change.
It's easier than that, think of who made the music. Real simple, they want to make sure he doesn't want to go to a concert.
Exactly! The set design for the movie and in universe for the show, is kept intentionally “out of time”. All the clothing, decor, and technology is a mix from different decades, so it doesn’t feel distinct to any one.
plus most Classical music is longer, so less talking was needed. but you have to say that it would equal only one radio station would be got on the radio.
Since No standard radio station could be used as there would be a chance that the show would be said live and he would hear it.
I reckon Truman's subconscious must've known he's trapped at that why he wanted to be an explorer since he was young.
I wouldn't call it a breakdown that Truman had, he was right about it all so it was actually a breakthrough.
Its a goddamn wonder that Jim Carrey didn't get an Oscar for his acting in the Truman Show
You actually believe the Oscars are about the quality of the product???
Denzel Washington got an Oscar for Training Day, one of his worst roles, but nothing for Malcolm X, John Q or even Man on fire... three of his best roles.
Also: The Grinch. It's a total transformation.
His Man on the Moon work was even more impressive, IMHO, although Truman is the better movie.
You have to understand that The Truman Show came out the....actually knowing that Shakespeare In Love won best picture in 99 over the likes of The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, Armageddon, Good Will Hunting, and American History X, you're right this is a fucking travesty.
@oYG_Snazzy the Oscar's are bought based off of favors donations and influences
The car could be a company car provided by Truman's job so they can replace it regularly.
@@justincoleman3805That's the thing. Some aspects of Truman's world would seem odd to us. But if it's the status quo in his then it wouldn't stand out.
That could also explain why he would not try to use it to travel outside the city or something as it's "company use only" so no leisure trips etc.
Actually, the "company car" explanation makes sense on another level: Truman has absolutely no need for a car. Truman never leaves (and isn't supposed to leave) the island, and Sea Haven is small enough to walk or bike anywhere within minutes (Seaside is only 80 acres, or 1/8th of a square mile, in size). There is no reason why Truman would spend thousands of dollars on a new car for as little as he uses it.
Wait, no, that doesn't work; Meryl explicitly says that the couple has car payments when citing financial obligations to dissuade Truman from going to Fiji.
@@micahbush5397 I don’t understand why the show didn’t just remove the concept of airplanes?
The rectangular magnifying glass was super common in the US in the 70s and 80s, it's likely that it was more about aging it correctly to the mom. The trees were in straight rows because that's part of the 'New Urbanist' aesthetic that the real Seaside was designed with in 1946. I definitely missed the makeup bib and Sylvia's recruitments, though!
All grandmothers have rectangular magnifying glasses.
Rectangular magnifying glasses are actually the best shape for reading text.
I'm from Georgia where half the state is planted pines in rows just like that.
Yes! And even more so - rectangular magnifying glasses are very common with readers since it allows you to magnify and read an entire sentence instead of just a few words.
I agree about the trees, but that still makes the forest man made. As in they planted those trees for the show. Of corse it's still a 'real forest, the trees aren't plastic or anything, by a fake forest it just means it wasn't already growing there naturally like that, cause plants don't really do that.
Sure, they may have decided in the fiction that they were "planted for the show", but those trees (at the time of filming) were 50+ years old, so the idea would have to be pretty shoehorned in there. It seems more likely to me that they shot it in the forest around Seaside and didn't actually think about the implications of it being a planned forest.
I always thought that bib was a food bib as she was finishing lunch
Same here, I think she even wipes her mouth as if signaling that she was just chewing something moments earlier.
she could have just said I was just having my lunch etc when she came back and took off the bib
surely Truman would have seen it as soon as she came in. so removing it in a quick swipe as it was never there can not work.
It is a food napkin. Make-up "bibs" are different. Now if this was a movie moment and a movie prop for the excuse "mistakes happen filming in Seahaven studios... okay, that works.
No, no. This is clearly meant to be a makeup reference, as explained here. If you've done any theater or TV work, you get the reference.
I thought that too.
Another thing people don't seem to notice is when they show the dance: the band is playing the song 20th century boy, which is a song from the 70s, but they're playing it in the style of 50s rock, which I always think was the movies' way of showing it meant they're trying to keep Truman and the place he lives in, in an idyllic 50s world.
It is a fantastic film but a very emotional one when he’s trying to break free on the boat, Jim Carey plays this part superbly despite his ushal hilarious normal characters in other films.
It was first Carrey's movie that I realized "Oh man, he can act!"
i dont really like jim carey movies dont find them a least bit funny. but trueman made me think different about him so much so i dont instantly dismiss him
Yup, this is literally the only Jim Carrey movie I'll even watch, for that very reason. The so-called comedies aren't funny to me in the least.
Good comic actors are typically also good dramatic actors. The reverse is not true, a lot of good dramatic actors fail in comedies.
I've often heard it's much more difficult to make people laugh than cry. This is probably the reason why comedic actors can have excellent dramatic vibe.
The forests around the area in Seaside (the real town Truman Show was filmed in) all look like that. The entire area was originally logging woods and parcels were sold off for developing beachside vacation communities. The trees are arraigned that way because after clearing all the pine they have machines that go back and plant new trees in rows. It works for the story of Truman show but is only incidental.
Also, the forest he is running through, is not really near the real Seaside Florida. It is located in another small town, Southport, just north of Panama City. It is just outside the gate of a real power generating plant on the north side of the bay. The "forest" consists of planted pine tree rows for pulp wood production. This "forest" is located about a mile through the woods from my childhood home. It was pretty cool watching this movie being filmed.
@@jeffreypettis8277 I never knew this! Living in Lynn haven now but lived in Panama City my whole life
This looks no different than the forests near Tallahassee. The trees are lined up the same way. It's the same all over the Panhandle. As soon as I see it in any movie or TV show I know it's the Florida Panhandle.
@@Daniel-xg3ul it’s all old logging land
@@toastyghosty489 Yep! St. Joe Paper. One of the largest land owners in Florida. The guy that made the video clearly didn't do his research about that part of Florida.
All the magnifying glasses my mother owned were square - in fact she had this exact one. The square ones were super popular in the 80s for reading. She used this particular one specifically for reading the news paper.
My Mum's was cream, and square, so I wouldn't have thought anything of this one 😄
With good films like this, you can watch it every couple of years and not get sick of it. Brilliant film, and a gem of an actor from my youth.
In the movie they say he caught a lot of things even people jumping out of boxes telling him it’s a show when he was a kid. That was maybe part of the message that he didn’t want to know really until later but there is a willing ignorance or something at some level or just not really paying attention for whatever reason or just trusting everyone else since his whole world told him the same
Thing so he would decide to overlook the many instances of things being off. Which can relate to peoples life of going with their own instinct and rebelling against what everyone is telling you.
Imagine if you were 7 (or whatever) years old and someone popped out of a box and screamed "You're on TV!". Would you immediately assume that your town was a giant dome, everyone you ever knew was a paid actor, and your life was a complete fraud?
I doubt it.
I think this is a great point and kind of an interesting take on Stockholm syndrome, not necessarily that Truman wanted to ignore those signs but it was genuinely too difficult for him to comprehend that possibility until he was much older and had a legitimate reason to doubt all that he knew.
I caught quite a few of these after one or two viewings, but a whole lot of them I never saw before. For example, I noticed the background characters going about their "jobs" but I never noticed Marlin taking candy OUT of the machine when Truman turned his head.
Funny thing, though. I saw the Vitamin D supplements on Truman's table the first time I saw the movie. I noticed because both my wife and I take Vitamin D supplements for different medical conditions and I even remember remarking when I saw them, "Hey look, he takes supplements, too!" But I never put two and two together to realize he needed them because the light he lives under is artificial.
Wonderful video that will enhance my enjoyment the next time I watch this movie.
The vit D reference is maybe too subtle of a clue to be picked- up by audience and interpreted as an invitation to spend more time outdoors.
As I watched the film I thought it owed a lot to 'The Prisoner', in terms of ubiquitous surveillance and manipulation. Then I noticed, in the control room, there was a penny farthing, a major symbol in 'The Prisoner', indicating that the producers acknowledged the heritage. I always wondered how many people would pick up on that.
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered!
That is genuinely new to me and obviously significant. (Unlike a lot of items in this video) Well done!
I did see Prisoner as a kid as a one time summer series showing. Read later some episodes were shown out of order. Would not have known back then.
'Truman' no possible connection to another great 1998 film 'Dark City'. Worthy of mentioning together. I'd call it a sci fi film noir.
There was a Mockumentary made about this where the cast (The cast of the fictional show not the real cast of the movie) were interviewed and it was revealed that the actress playing Meryl got paid a 10K bonus every time she had sex with Truman.
There was also a dropped storyline where the show wanted the first ever live conception and when the baby was born a 2nd show running 24/7 would start featuring the child now this was done for 2 reasons first off to get another show but also already setting up Truman’s replacement for when he gets old or if he got to Ill or had a accident and/or died due to it.
How would a second show work when the kid will live with Truman for two decades though
@@JakeLYT the child wouldn’t be with him 24/7 it would go to school and be at home when Truman was at work it would spend time with “friends” etc
The show would probably set up situations where they were apart as well.
I don’t know why they dropped that bit as it was filmed and the the deleted scenes were on the dvd and can be found online.
I think it showed even more how they didn’t really care about him and to them he was just a thing to exploit and when a time came where he was no longer useful they would just get rid and move on with the next one plus it could show the actress who played Meryl was willing to just use her own child and give it up to the show as I think she has already signed any future child over to the show for more money (or go another way and have her genuinely care about it and show what she did she deeply regrets and tries to get it back)
@@JakeLYT It would just be a parallel production with the kid as the focal point instead. Certainly there would be loads of overlap in the beginning where they spend a lot of time together, but Truman is at work for hours a day, so viewers can choose which channel they prefer or switch back and forth. I imagine some of it would feel like watching a sporting event flipping back and forth between the broadcasts that favor each team.
@@JakeLYT Not necessarily. They could just fake the child's death if they wanted to make a new location or create some reason why the child has to be separated from Truman like his wife divorcing him and getting the kid
@@JakeLYT they were planning his demise...
One thing I definitely missed was the significance of the first names of the actors playing his wife and his best friend. I guessed straight away that Meryl was probably named in honour of Meryl Streep but it was about 20 years after my first viewing that I realised that Marlon was probably named after Marlon Brando.
I think it was after Marlon Wayans because of In Living Color
@@poptarget no it was definitely Marlon Brando. The movie had a lot of character names as well as street names based on old timey hollywood celebs or other older famous people. Barrymore street, Lancaster square, and Marlon's real name (in the movie) is Louis Coltrane, which is an amalgamation of Louis Armstrong and John Coltrane. Lauren Garland is an amalgamation of Lauren Baccal and Judy Garland, etc.
@@cassianandor4103 It was a joke lol
It was a great movie. The only thing I ALWAYS found weird, already when I watched it the first time as a child were the scenes where truman started acting out in public, and instead of reacting on him like "hey, what is wrong with you, do you need help, can someone call cop XY he will know what to do..." ANYTHING? But instead the actors just frezzed in place like some kind of animal and waited for truman to move on. Even when he was standing in front of the bus, gestureing weirdly towards the driver, it always weirded me out that the bus drived didn't stick out his head and yelled "get of the roead!" And maybe someone who knows him, pushing him from the road to the sidewalk and asking what is wrong with him.
That was the weirdest
after so many decades of perfectly planned performance, most of those actors probably would just freeze up in shock at Truman becoming self aware and challenging them off-script, so to speak
omg i thought the same thing
I thought the same. lol Then I realized it's on purpose. If you're acting, you're not gonna have the same emotional reactions you would normally. They'd have to think and consider their next action if things go off-script and then wonder if it'd be okay for _them_ to go off-script too. With how much the director controlled everything and how often the extras were on earpieces, they probably weren't allowed to improv without being told.
@@justincoleman3805 and waiting for direction
They were never trained to do that though
gonna call Nope on the magnifying glass - rectangular magnifiers for reading are extremely common, see them more than round ones, and when this film was released TVs were mostly square.
Agreed that outside of films, rectangular ones are more common, although I used to sell them a lot, mos of the ones I sold didn't have anywhere near as thick of a surrounding....
I think they definitely tried to make it look like a TV though
Plus it’s the wrong aspect ratio for TV of the time. NTSC TV was 4:3.
OK loved all of that except the magnifying glass thing. Those were incredibly common in the 80s and 90s and in fact were probably more available than a round one.
Also forests are always planted in rows when planted by man. This is very common.
Also the fact that a TV in the 90's was basically square, not nearly as rectangle as the magnifying glass. Modern TVs are much more rectangular and much more similar to the magnifying glass used in the movie, but that is modern people making modern assumptions.
@@doctoralfman8393 Yup. TVs were 4:3 back then as opposed to the 16:9 now and the relative shape of that magnifying glass.
Yeah, round ones are crap. I've only seen them as children's toys.
Also, aren’t there literally hundreds of multilevel homes in Seaside, FL? I’m struggling to think of there are any that AREN’T multi floors…
Some of these I've noticed in my several viewings. I always love the posters in the travel agent's giving you reasons not to travel.
For point #2, regularly spaced pine forests are actually a real thing in North America, as they are replanted after clear-cut forestry, to rebuild burned areas, or anywhere that a forest is desired, and can often be seen in many near urban or wilderness areas. While your point about the forest being "man-made" is well taken, it isn't nearly as unlikely as your commentary claims.
They are even more of a thing in Europe. At least one European nation has designed its tank doctrine around the rows of trees in their forests.
Was looking for this comment. The pine tree thing is def advantageous for the man-made illusion but it's probably just that way because people farm pine in that area. I'd like to know more about why the real Directors chose Seaside.
Absolutely! I live in this area and the planted pines always stand out to me whenever I see them in a movie or TV show.
For another example, look for the Crocodile Hunter episode filmed at Eglin Air Force Base, very near where the Truman show was filmed.
you replant trees in rows after a fire? Living in Australia, that's such a weird concept!!!!!!!!! Do none of your trees regrow after fires?
@@mehere8038 they would, but the forests in North America are usually commercial. So they have a financial loss from forest fires and can't just wait for the trees to do their own thing.
I remember driving in some beautiful town thinking I’ve seen this place before.. and turns out it was where most of The Truman Show was filmed. Seaside Florida is such a beautiful town.
What hit me the hardest was the audience enjoying watching another human being live in a glass house (cage), held against his will and knowledge. Trueman was a lab-rat for everyone else's amusement. This brilliant movie shows the true nature of human beings. All the people around Truman cared about was a paycheck. Money make people do things outside of their norm.
There's another movie like it called RIA.
I totally agree about what you say it shows about human nature.
reminds me of the end of Stone Cold's movie The Condemned. the reporter at the end (talking about the show live feeds in the movie), explains that at first, she thought the criminals on the show were "the condemned", but after seeing millions of people pay to watch it all unfold, she says, "are WE... the condemned"...i caught chills.
Reminds me of the human zoos that used to exist too
Something interesting is that they all celebrate the moment he comes to the real world at the end
@@doriane9331 you are absolutely correct.
I was asked to watch this as part of my uni politics course to teach us about 'big brother' culture which was a huge issue late 2000's. It's still relevant today
Same here. There were some books too that we had to read (can’t remember what they were though) that had the same theme
It is real. The Truman show is reality for some of us and they mock us with things from it.
Another movie is RIA.
There is no getting away. We don't know who the audience is, maybe deep web?
But you wouldn't believe who gets cameos. If I've had the misfortune to have seen anyone famous, and I have seen many, I automatically conclude the worst.
This is an awesome movie! I think it’s one of Jim’s best movies. I love it when he realises what is really going on but makes out he is back to his old self.. even us viewers don’t realise until he vanishes.
Classical music may be in the public domain, but the recording of the performances is often times NOT in the public domain and is subject to copyright laws/royalties. Since audio recording didn't exist in the days of Bach, the recordings are modern, usually done by famous symphonies and are copyrighted.
They could hire some local orchestra to record just for the show, and not have to pay royalties though, no?
@@AndreiFierbinteanu yes the music itself is without copyright so all that would happen is the production would drop a lump of cash on an orchestra and hire them. Or presumably in the setting the show is backed by an existing entertainment conglomerate which probably already owned classical recordings they had full control of.
I thought this. You still have to pay the orchestra.
And with most traditional tv and movie productions - done by an orchestral group in-house as to not have to pay licensing fees
Also, Burbank is it's own bubble city in the middle of the greater Los Angeles area. Burbank has it's own police force, fire department, public schools, water & power and even it's own National Guard.
It's also porn movie production center USA.
its, not it's.
The missed point about the manmade forest is somewhat untrue. Those sorts of forests are prevalent in areas like Florida and Georgia because they are usually planted by paper tree companies. Pines grow fairly quickly compared to other trees and are used for paper mills. The paper companies will replant new tress in rows like shown in the movie after they have cut down the existing trees. It's doubtful that the production company would have had to create a forest like that when they are quite common.
You are correct, however I think the intent was to show the production company of the Truman Show Had to plant a forest, and the planted forests that exist everywhere where I live, (very near Seaside, FL) were A perfect and clever inclusion.
Good old slash pines as we call them.
Which still makes it a manmade forest. The point was that nature doesn't make a forest that only grows in perfect straight rows like that.
@@tyrannicpuppy In my country all pine forests are man made. Straight lines everywhere.
@@chumrob100 I doubt the production company planted that forest though. While the forest is man made, those trees are about 6-8 years old. It seems more likely that they scouted the location rather than finding some land to plant the trees 4-6 years before starting production on the movie.
Rectangular magnifying glasses were common, my grandparents had one.
Beyond that, thank you for all the other interesting tidbits. The Psalms 139 was definitely an interesting layered easter egg
Yea, but the one they show in the movie does look like old style TVs, so IMO the video does make a good point.
The Psalm 139 reference is a pretty interesting one, and the parallels are quite obvious (though take on a rather sinister undertone when applied to Truman's context). For anyone who doesn't know the passage, here's the relevant excerpt:
"O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me...
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall lead me."
(Psalm 139:1-5, 6-7, NKJV)
I always wonder, when Truman goes to the travel agency and when he stays at his car looking for patterns of the bicyle, flowers and car, almost figuring things out, why did nobody intervene? If there are cameras everywhere, wouldn't they see him doing suspicious stuff like that?
They have to figure out how they're going to react.
Going to the travel agent... what are they supposed to do? Have it suddenly close? Block him, like they tried to do other times? They decided to just quickly play along, and have all flights be "booked". Perfectly reasonable.
As for the patterns... he sat in his car, watching, presumably in silence. It wasn't until he told his "wife" about the patterns that anyone from the show could know what he was thinking. And by then, it was too late to warn the extras.
@@timfischer good points you're giving
The real question is: WHY IS THERE EVEN A TRAVEL AGENCY?
@@neliaferreira9983 because it is normal to have a travel agency in a town?
The forest is typical of many in the South that are periodically cut for its pine lumber by the landowner and then replanted for subsequent cutting in 20 to 30 years. The trees are often replanted in straight rows. The scene was likely shot in one of these pine forests.
Just wanted to add something you may have missed but I don't think the bus driver broke the buses transmission on purpose I think he did it because he didn't know how to drive the bus because if you remember later on in the movie the same actor who drives the bus is the same actor they're trying to get to drive the boat out on the artificial ocean to search for Truman but someone comes over the PA system and says they don't know how to drive the boat they're actors.
I thought the same at first but how did the bus get there then? The town is supposed to function, even actors in movies learn how to do stuff to pretend to work doing that so why wouldn’t they know their supposed job in the Truman show?
This is correct I think. I know a bus driver who said old buses (maybe like the one on set) had double declutching, even multiple transmissions that had to be worked manually, no synchromesh. Wrong order or wrong gear at wrong speed with wrong torque = destroyed gearbox. He said it was a lot of work he's glad never to have again.
So, I believe theory checks out, although it does seem like he is trying as hard as possible to wreck it in the movie, in line with Kristof's demands.
A Spaniard here. Just a little detail: the Santa María wasn't "THE" boat of Christopher Columbus, but one of them: La Niña (the girl, named like that because it was the smallest), La Pinta (the Pinto Bean, because it was darker) and La Santa María (the Holy Mary). Also, Columbus didn't own any of those ships, but the Pinzon brothers, who were also part of the crew.
My thought as well!
Do we know which of the 3 boats Columbus was on?
@@lexprontera8325 pretty sure he was on the Santa Maria
Actually, those aren’t true facts. No one actually has documented proof or any scripts that state those were the names of the ships.
Columbus was evil.
The Pinzon Brothers did not own the ships. One was the captain of the Nina, the other was the captain of the Pinta. The three ships were owned by different people. No one person owned the fleet.
Another Easter egg: We see a few extras get the newspaper “Dog Fancy” from the news stand. This contains real world news. They were banking on Truman not buying it because he doesn’t like dogs.
That super warm message of kindness and support at the end was so unexpected but genuinely made me feel so happy and loved💖💖
The piano player in the control room is the composer Philip Glass. He also wrote a lot of the soundtrack.
Yes he wrote all the music but that is not him in the movie but an actor.
It is him in a different scene where dawn is breaking and Christof is wandering a large stage and a pianist below him is playing the soundtrack, that is Philip Glass. Just after Truman reunites with his dad and before he disappears.
I thought you might mention how the street names were names after classic Hollywood actors, and the cast named after others, including more recent ones: Marlon (Brando), Meryl (Streep), Vivian (Leigh), Angela (Lansbury or Cartwright), Lauren (Bacall)
Even Truman, who also worked in Hollywood and wrote Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
And Marlon's real name (in the movie anyways) is Louis Coltrane, which is an amalgamation of Louis Armstrong and John Coltrane.
@@AJARyan-yn2uv Oh, I never thought about Mr Capote... I originally thought it was after Harry Truman, since the fashion in the movie resembles early 1950s styles. But the "official" explanation is that he is the only "True Man"... although the Capote theory fits in perfectly.
I would have loved to see a sequel of the Truman show where he struggles to adapt in real life and he gets to interact with all the characters on the show outside of acting
I’ve always wondered why is there no sequel of this movie. Just the story of how he found his true love while struggling with depression after finding out his life is a lie … I mean… please??
@@lola1033 wouldn't that ruin the whole message tho? Like after he escapes the fake world around him, why should he continue to be watched by an outside source? He's free and that's what's important
A sequel..... is a horrible idea.
@@jugemujugemugokonosurikire4735 said no one ever lol
@@primitivechef8009 It doesn't have to be filmed as if he's being watched by cameras though does it! Or does it? Maybe on the outside Truman discovers he has no skills of way to make a living & maybe he agrees to be followed by a documentary or reality film crew as a way of making a living or building support for his case for compensation against those that exploited him for his whole childhood?
Here is another one: When we first see Truman in his office there is in the foreground on the desk a round black ball, the top of which is white. The white contains the number 8 and the ball is resting on a small flat surface on which this toy can show any one of eight random "fortunes." He is in that scene literally "behind the eight ball."
Good eye!!!
One classical piece is a "Rondo" (by Mozart?) when there is an aerial shot of the town. Truman tells Meryl later that he has discovered the actors are on a loop. "They just go round and round."
The music is mirroring just that.
When it comes to the new Fords (10:50), there's a mention of "New Car Day" somewhere in the film. So evidently there's a made-up holiday in Seahaven when everybody gets a new car, it probably happens every year - and presumably if another auto company gave the producers a better deal, those new cars wouldn't be Fords.
I once heard that, if you can afford a car on finance, you can afford an island that same way.
The Vitamin D thing makes me realize; if the Truman showrunners could afford that dome, why didn't they just pick out a choice island and build their set there? Heck, why didn't they CONSTRUCT an island at Point Nemo? It would keep Truman away from non-actors naturally.
Good thinking! If I had to come up for a reason, it could be for logistics: It hard to ship in and out actors, far more easy and practical to do it by car. And the dome provides the perfectly controlled environment, compared to an island without dome.
Islands aren't controlled environments. You want a hurricane blowing through on sweeps week?
Also, you shouldn't believe everything you hear.
I thought the dome was pretty hilarious. This humongous steel behemoth that sits behind the Hollywood sign.
Logistics and control. Much harder and 10x more expensive to get crew, actors, and supplies to and from an island all the time. Also, if on a real island instead of a set, there'd be no control of the weather or day/night cycles which are shown to be important tools for manipulating Truman, contriving storylines, and covering up exposures.
People could sneak in by air or sea. The dome was to not only keep Truman in but fans/protesters out.
If you notice right after the Mt Rushmore picture he continues looking through the picture book and sees his wife crossing her fingers in the wedding photo, that is the first time in the movie that he starts to suspect his wife or Marlon may be in on it. Then in the next conversion with his wife he says "I'll cross my fingers for you" which i think is hilarious
You are a great type of observationalist
The Truman Show gets better each time I watch it ! Classic film ❤️
Also, another commonly missed detail is in the beginning, when the light falls from the sky, there’s a label on it reading “Sirius” which is the name of an actual star, meaning the set likely had accurate star placements and constellations 🤪👍🏻
Although the trees in the film may assumed to be fake as part of the set, they are probably real. Many places in the US plant trees around reservoirs. Also there are many tree farms that plant trees for lumber production. They are always in straight rows and spaced perfectly apart. They can cover hundreds of acres of land.
I remember in the 90s that NASA's biosphere program was in the news. Even in pop culture just two years before this film was released the comedy Bio Dome was released. I had always assumed that the creators of the Truman show took hints from NASA and made the set a self sustainable eco system with natural vegetation.
@@justincoleman3805 in fact they even said they were probably planted when truman was still an infant lol
Square magnifying glasses are common for reading or looking at larger print. You wouldn't want to scan a glass across a line of text constantly. It's easier if you magnify an entire line at once.
This is so meta. When it was mentioned that Truman and his friend have new Ford cars, TH-cam interrupted the video with a Ford commercial.
Our machine overlords are getting closer to consciousness every day...
The funniest part about it being filmed in seaside is that a LOT of areas are exactly the same or super similar. Truman’s house for example looks almost the same, a bunch of signs from the show are still there, the town square has changed but the bones of it are the same with new building added since the time they filmed and so many more.
The Sirius star that falls from the sky holds symbolism as a guiding star as well.
Polaris would be more symbolic as a guiding star. Sirius doesn't even show that much in the sky in the northern latitudes, definitely not directly overhead when it's not winter. I don't think they put a lot of thought into the name.
Those rectangular magnifying glasses are very common. My grandmother had several. I’d say they are more common than the old fashioned round ones.
yeah my parents have them too. rectangular to fit the shape of a paragraph. old people need em to read
I think they are much more common here in the States than the UK where WhatCulture is located.
Yeah, in my experience, the rectangular ones are more common for reading because mentally we like rectangular fields of view. Whereas the round ones are for inspecting things because it gives a "spotlight" like focus on a single point. Growing up we had both: rectangle in drawer of office for paperwork, round in utility room and shed for crafting/repair work.
Truman Show is such a underrated movie Jim Carrey give one of his best performances in that movie. A must watch for everybody.
That magnifying glass was a reading magnifying glass and they are rectangular in shape to minimise distortion. My grandparents had a couple that looked exactly like that. So Truman’s elderly mother having one is simply the way it is. I doubt it has anything to do with a subtle nod to Truman being on a tv show.
There should already be a sequel to this movie! I wonder how shocked Truman would be in a few years after he got out of the dome to witness in the real world the advent of real-life tv shows, our craziness for selfie pics and videos, and addiction to social media. The very things that he grew up with in the dome that denied him his freedon all his life.😭
I took our family by the community where the movie was filmed while we were on vacation close by. We drove by the house Jim Carrey walked out of and smiled as he said his lines. The house is in Seaside Florida at 31 Natchez street, but the owners kept the 36 on the front over the door. Unique community, lots of foot traffic and people on bicycles. Quaint, beautiful, and pleasant. And you can't beat the sugary white sands along 30A of the Emerald coast. Just my opinion
We went there many years ago and again 4 years ago. It's a pretty planned community, but now the plants and trees have really filled in the yards. It looks very different, but you can still pick out scene locations.
Another possible detail is the producer was planning a way for him to go on a holiday to reduce his suspicion. In one scene when he wanted to book a holiday they actually gave him a possible time be that a long wait but not impossible. Which may explain the other island
Funny coincidence, u guys released this video just when i decided to give the movie a try. Loved it so much. No sequel needed. It's a gem
I lived in this part of Florida when this was shot, I was actually late to school one day because they were filming on deer point dam bridge (the one he can't cross himself) I wasn't going to comment, but with one of the last ones, about the trees in a line, there are actually several man made forrests around this part of Florida, there was one my dad pointed out to me that he helped make in school I believe. So it probably wasn't planted by the production crew, but they used one of the ones already in existence in that particular area.
In the background, a man with a dark maroon suit with glasses and a hat can be seen everywhere. From the newspaper kiosk to the town square, it seems as though that the man is a spy and was hired to make sure that Truman stays calm during the show. Pretty cool detail.
It didn't predict the future - it merely described the present.
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen" - George Orwell, 1984
And then what happened
I thought the show does mention about how many hidden cameras are on set. But the ring one, and him giving it back to his father is a great find
I think it mentioned 5,000 cameras total.
As anyone who has posted on TH-cam is aware of, adding classic music might not require you to pay the composer, BUT the orchestra that performed the music has rights too. The show will have to have new performances of the classic pieces recorded.
Still far cheaper than paying for contemporary music or hiring a hundred artists to make new music
We see a guy playing the piano. So yeah they get some folks in have them record royalty free music. Likely produce some original music. In that world maybe some popular sounds were recorded for the show.
@@DesignIncase This was for a live soundtrack produced on the fly to give whatever emotional weight they wanted to the scene of the moment. It was also a lot simpler then the classical music. I do hope they paid their live music studio a good wage for being on call 24/7 to accompany Truman's life at any moment.
Love this film. So relatable if you come from an insincere horrendous family who lie for fun and hurt you whilst smiling. Makes me cry everytime I watch it.
4:52 I had a completely different take on the bus driver scene. I think it was yet another allusion to the fact that everyone in Truman's world is an actor rather than what they appear to be (i.e. the actor is not a bus driver and therefore doesn't know how to operate the bus).
There are actual bus drivers among the extras. 9:00 shows a functional bus.
You know the one thing I never understood is why instead of a catering service they wouldn't simply just have actual vending machine stockers or cooks etc. Have the cast and crew be given a certain amount of fake money a day to spend around town eating and shopping, it contributes to the world building and considering Truman's schedule is known at all times you can always make sure it doesn't interfere with whatever he's doing. Also a rotation and restaurants and eateries would allow for greater opportunity for advertisement pushing, as Truman could be easily pressed by friends and family to go check out new additions to the town under the guise of trying new things.
It's a good point. There's a theory, I don't remember who came up with it, that much of Seahaven actually is a functional town. That is the show helps pay for itself and it's massive cast by having normal businesses operate in the many buildings that occupy the site. And they would do things like process the orders for the items sold on the show, software development, (fittingly) insurance, publishing, or basically anything that requires a call center. The stipulation being that most of these people are not allowed to interact with Truman. Perhaps some even live in Seahaven, at least part time. With the rest either being bussed in or using underground tunnels Truman doesn't know about. Interesting theory, but if that was the case, there wouldn't be a need to have a fake elevator with a craft service table. They would, have real buildings (not facades) and, as you say, real jobs performed by the "extras".
When Truman first meets his wife rock music is playing in the background so I'd assume Truman has also heard non classical music
Maybe rock was used to make him feel "rebel" at the time they wanted him to meet her.
As per the vitamin D thing, the studio could simply mix UV lights in with the studio lighting outside. It would do the exact same thing as natural sunlight to give Truman vitamin D.
That and if there is no uv light how did the plants grow?
Sunlight is waaay more than UV light, but sun lights are a thing
Instances of Friday the 13th occurring in December only happened twice in the 1990s: 1991 and 1996. So 1996 seems like the obvious in-dome year. However, since the in-dome world is completely fictional, there is no reason, other than convenience, that they would have to use our calendar.
Actually the "forests" in FL near roads usually have the trees in grids because they were planted this way. It's all over FL, vast swaths of pine tree grids. Since this was filmed in FL that forest is about as realistic to life as it gets!
Superb list! not one bit of filler and generally interesting. This is the quality that Whatculture should use as the benchmark
This film is so incredibly well thought out. A true classic.
Imagine a Truman Show Sequel from the moment he walks out of that door...
I'd hate it if that ever happened. Because I'd feel obliged to watch (and just be curious of) whatever happened to Truman afterwards while I want the "open" ending to remain - it's much more thought-provoking and (don't laugh) hopeful. Gives me much stronger emotion rush rather then a fleeting enjoyment from yet-another-plot-closure would.
you would have to ask who would he earn money his job was given to him, there is no job interview and any thing he learned mean not be high enough for him to get a job in the real world.
And take it he is a Big star know worldwide. he is more likely to be mobbed every time he goes out.
Any film could include what happens to the director and how the massive costs of the show and all the staff move on.
we know who he will be with but not how it is going to work, he only knows the life in a small place with everything given to him on a plate. he has not seen so much of the bad but only the good
The soda cans, or lack of soda cans was the one thing I caught as a kid and pointed out to my parents. "Good catch!" From then on Ive tried to remain eagle eyed but I'd rather just enjoy the movies
Tree forest reference: In many forested areas of Florida, much of the land areas are actually owned/leased by paper mill companies. The companies periodically harvest those areas and replant the pine trees seen in them. The state of Florida is has many of these areas, so the forest is both wild and man made at the same time.
They could have kept Truman’s suspicion from developing by setting the tv show in a slightly post-apocalyptic setting. Saying he can’t leave the island because most of the world is uninhabited.
Yeah but then people couldn’t relate as much. The point was for him to be an average guy